India Rapid Drop in Shrimp Prices, Farmers Panic

India

Rapid Drop in Shrimp Prices, Farmers Panic

April 14, 2018

Durai Murugan, secretary of the Shrimp Association of Pattukottai in the state of Tamil Nadu and managing director of New Diamond Aqua Enterprise, says market prices for shrimp have fallen by 60% in the last four months! If the trend continues for next two months, a 20% drop could be expected in India’s shrimp production this year. Farmers in Andhra Pradesh and Tamil Nadu lost money on the first crop of 2018. Most farmers are resorting to early harvest to cut their losses. He said there are too many people and countries farming shrimp, and that new supplies were coming to market from countries that are recovering from disease epidemics.

Murugan said: There is a panic mode among farmers to harvest due to falling prices. Most of the harvests from Andhra Pradesh are in 100 to 80-count range, and the 100-count price has fallen from $3.52 to $2.60. Farmers are in no mood to restock their ponds at these prices.